Employer Branding & Employee Experience are two sides of the same coin!
This is literally my LinkedIn headline :)
For a long time, Employer Branding was seen as a means to hire more people and share “good things” about the company. Smiling faces, happy people in group photos, everyone saying it’s a great place to work, etc. Then came Glassdoor, social media and now Fishbowl. These platforms disrupted the notion of employer branding and forced us to make it about employees and candidates. Today employer branding is more about what people talk about the company than HR or marketing talks.
So what does employer branding have to do with employee/candidate experience? Here areHere’re my 5 insights.
Passionately listen to your employees
Your employees already have an image of your employer brand in their minds. Make sure you have the right tools and processes to listen to what they are saying out about their everyday experiences. Candidate & employee experience surveys can be great sources of data for your employer brand. Do their experiences reveal a totally different picture of your employer brand? Experience needs to be at the heart of your talent brand.
Make your Employer Brand driven by Employee Experiences
Your employee experience journey and programs need to be living proof of your employee value proposition (thus aligning to the employer brand). If your EVP is about building DEI culture, can you identify the actual proof points in the EX journey that brings your employer brand to life?
In the same way, do you leverage your talent brand messaging in the employee/candidate journey? Your employee experience needs to adopt the communication framework/language to make sure it aligns with what you promise.
Your talent are some of the most influential advocates for your brand
Of course, it’s important for leadership to set the tone and walk the talk; although it’s your employees who need to share their experiences internally & externally to support the employer brand narrative and make it a real one. They will only do it if they believe in what they experience. Yes, some will join you for perks or gamification, but it won’t last for long if they do not trust you as their employer.
Align your Employer Brand measurement to Employee Experience
Internal employee survey scores will tell you a lot about the strength of your employer brand since it’s all inside out. Check your Glassdoor scores and compare them to internal surveys. It will reveal a lot about how EX impacts your employer brand. Make sure you fix the problems at the roots and not shoot for the stars ONLY. A strong employee experience will help to bring more referrals.
Both employer branding & employee experience are not (just) HR topics but they are business drivers. In today’s talent war, experience & brand perceptions are open-sourced; there is no hiding behind the corporate site. Build an irresistible candidate & employee experience and see your employer brand doing magic!